Chapter Ninety Two

Bella

I could tell Jasper was on edge but I wasn't sure why and then it came out of the blue.

"Why don't we go out for dinner Bella? We could drive to your favorite Italian restaurant."

I felt myself go cold and my hands started shake again,

"A drive? I don't think so Jazz. We could eat here, get an Italian delivered."

"It wouldn't be the same though Bella and you went out the other day so you know you can cope with that."

He was right but the thought of getting into a car and driving through the streets made me feel physically sick, what if we got hijacked? What if there were another kidnapper just waiting to grab me and lock me up. I felt myself hyperventilating until he came and put his arms around me.

"Bella, its fine. I'll keep you safe I promise and it's not far, only a few blocks remember?"

I did vaguely and I knew if I didn't try I would be trapped here forever. I couldn't let him win, I wouldn't.

"OK, but you stay with me, every second."

"I will I promise you, now go get your glad rags on."

Jasper

I had to tell Bella the truth, it was already overdue, but I was terrified that if I told her in here she wouldn't feel safe with me and then she would have no refuge at all so I decided to take her out to dinner, getting her to face another fear and then when we came back to tell her. I hoped she would be more relaxed and feeling she had accomplished something.

I made the effort, getting dressed up and even wearing a tie and when she came out of the bathroom in a pale blue dress Rose had talked her into ordering she looked more beautiful than ever. Her hair shone where she had brushed it and the sleeves hid the few scars from her beatings. She smiled a little timidly,

"Is this OK? I didn't know what to wear."

"You look beautiful as ever Bella. Are you ready for an adventure?"

She blanched a little but took my arm and we walked down the stairs, she still refused to step in the elevator, and to the car.

She looked around nervously and when she got in I had to do her seat belt up for her she was trembling so much.

"You don't have to do this if it's too difficult Bella, I just thought it might help."

She nodded,

"It will, I don't want to be frightened of everything, a prisoner, or he's won Jasper."

I drove carefully and stopped right outside the restaurant so she could go right in.

"I'll just be a second Bella but I made a reservation so just ask and the hostess will take you to our table."

She nodded nervously and I waited until she was safely inside before parking the car round the back.

Grabbing Bella's jacket in case she was cold when we came out I walked back to the restaurant doors but just before I reached them I felt something hard against my spine and a voice spoke in my ear.

"Just hand over your wallet and no one need get hurt. This is a gun against your spine so don't try anything stupid"

Thankful Bella wasn't with me I whirled round grabbing his arm as the gun went off hitting me in the chest. I staggered back slightly and heard a scream as I snapped my attacker's arm and picked him up throwing him into a nearby dumpster before crushing the gun in my hand but before I could hurl it after him I heard Bella's voice.

"I was scared so I came to find you Jazz. Is it bad?"

Her hand reached up and pulled my jacket aside looking at my shirt, the blackened hole where the bullet had hit before ricocheting off my chest standing out stark against the white.

Bella

I was terrified in this place among all these strangers, I needed to find Jasper to feel safe so I ran back out and saw him coming round the corner but before I could speak I heard the man behind him and then it all happened so fast. The gun went off and Jazz staggered but then he picked his assailant up and threw him across the alley into a dumpster. I ran up expecting to see blood, a lot of it but when I opened his jacket there was just a black hole in his white shirt.

I stepped back confused and then saw something in his fist and took it from him looking at it stupidly. It was, or had been, a gun and I'd heard it fire but now it was just a tangled mass of metal and plastic and certainly wouldn't fire again. He took it from me and dropped it in his jacket pocket looking at me unsure what to say.

"I'd like to go back."

"What about your meal?"

"I'm not hungry any more. I want to go back now."

He nodded and held out his arm which I took automatically and he walked me back to the car picking up my coat from the sidewalk first and draping it around my shoulders.

We didn't speak on the short drive back, nor as we made our way up the stairs and into the apartment but then I turned to him.

"Take off your shirt."

"Bella…."

"Just do it Jasper."

Slowly, reluctantly, he took off his jacket and then unbuttoned his shirt and shrugged it off. I looked at his chest, there was nothing, no wound, no blood, no bruise, nothing to show he had ever been shot.

"It missed Bella."

"Don't…...Just don't lie to me Jasper. I saw the hole in your shirt. I heard the shot and what about this.."

I grabbed the twisted metal from his jacket pocket and held it out to him.

"This was a gun, it fired a bullet that hit you in the chest and now it looks like it's been through a crusher yet it never left your hand. Who are you Jasper? What are you?"

He lowered his head and bent down to pick up his shirt but I ripped it from his hand throwing it over his shoulder to land on the chair.

"Answer me, should I be afraid? What are you?"

"I wanted to tell you, I was going to tell you tonight, after dinner. I know you are scared but…"

"Scared? No Jasper, I'm not scared, not of you. I don't have the capacity to be scared any more but I am confused and angry. All this time, since we met, when I lived with you, and even now, you've been lying to me all along. I'm not blind, I saw what happened tonight, I saw every one of your "family", you're all the same….I just don't know what that same is. But you are going to tell me, right now or I'm ringing Charlie and asking him to come pick me up. I don't care what he's hiding, probably he knows the truth so it won't matter any more. Just TELL ME THE TRUTH!"

I was almost screaming and tears ran down my face but I put my hands up as he tried to comfort me.

"Don't you take another step until you tell me why you aren't dead. Why that bullet didn't go right through you."

He seemed to sag and took a few steps backward sitting down on the chair and pulling his shirt back on but not bothering to button it up.

"I'm sorry Bella, it was my intention to tell you what I am when I'd been to tell my family about you."

"Your family? Is Rose even your sister? Or is that a lie too?"